| Summer Crossover Series 2003: Everyone Hail to the Pumpkin Song By Kuzibah |
| An Angel/Nightmare Before Christmas (Animated Movie) Crossover Disclaimer: Angel and other characters and situations particular to "Angel" (the TV series) are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and other individuals and corporate bodies. Halloweentown, Jack Skellington, and other characters and settings particular to �The Nightmare Before Christmas� are the property of Tim Burton, The Disney Corporation, and other individuals and corporate bodies. No copyright infringement is intended or implied. Introduction to "Everyone Hail to the Pumpkin Song": When Angel was last seen, he was signed on as a partner/owner of Wolfram & Hart, L.A. branch, and his son, Connor, had been given up (and reality altered, incidentally) to a human family with a normal life. �The Nightmare Before Christmas� is the story of Halloweentown and its King, Jack Skellington, who accidentally discovers the existence of other holidays, specifically Christmas, and the problems that arise when he decides the citizens of Halloween can do a much better Christmas than old �Sandy Claws� and his elves. A charming and visually stunning stop-motion feature, based on a story and artwork by Tim Burton, and directed by Henry Selick with songs by Danny Elfman, it has become a true cult phenomenon in the past few years. Incidentally, this is the last in this Summer�s series. Thanks for all the great feedback. Rating: PG Archive- Please email request. Feedback- Absolutely. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Angel woke up to complete darkness, and the feeling of claustrophobia. Damn, he thought. Stuck in a box again. He raised his arms, expecting to find himself bound, chained, or otherwise restrained, but instead touched cool satin which pushed easily upward at his touch. He sat up to find himself in an old-fashioned six-sided coffin, painted glossy black and lined with red satin. He was also dressed in black pajamas printed with tiny jack-o-lanterns. He climbed down from the coffin onto a smooth-sanded wooden floor, and looked around the room. The coffin he�d been in was resting on a low, heavy-legged table that had been draped in black bunting, and white candles and lilies were placed around it. On either side were similar (though smaller) coffins on similar tables, but these were still closed tight. The windows were covered in thick red velvet drapes, and in the corner was a coffin-shaped grandfather clock with painted stars and moon visible through the opening in its face. At the other end of the room was a wardrobe, also coffin-shaped, its doors slightly ajar, and a wash-table alongside. On the third wall, to the left of the wardrobe, was a stone fireplace with three upholstered chairs in black-and-orange stripes, one full-sized and two smaller, and a matching ottoman. The mantelpiece held more flowers and candles, and three pairs of high-buttoned, patent-leather boots were lined up beside the hearth. There was a closed door opposite the fireplace. Angel approached the wardrobe and opened the doors cautiously. One side was filled with hanging robes and capes, all black velvet and lined with red satin, adult-sized and hanging the full length of the compartment. The other side had been divided halfway down, with child-sized clothes in the same black and red above and a stack of three drawers below. As expected, the drawers contained more clothes, adult and child-sized. Angel returned to the coffins and took in the two smaller ones. Just as he was about to open one and see if there really was a small vampire inside the grandfather clock reached six o�clock and began to chime. The two small coffin lids swung open in unison and, indeed, two vampire children, one boy and one girl, sat up and yawned. They could have been no older than six when they were turned. The girl was dressed in a plain white shift and had dark hair that hung in perfect ringlets to frame a heart-shaped face and wide, blue eyes. The boy was dressed in pajamas like Angel�s own, but printed in a garish orange with black spirals. His hair was blond, almost white, but his eyes, also blue, regarded Angel with suspicion. The girl spoke first. �Have you come to be our daddy?� she said, her high-pitched voice softly accented. �I don�t know,� Angel said. �You see, I�m not sure how I got here, or even where I am.� �This is apartment 2-B at Sepulcher Villas,� the boy said, walking over to the wash-table and carefully lifting down the enameled pitcher. �It�s three blocks from the town square of Halloweentown, on Tombstone Avenue.� �And what are your names?� Angel asked. �She�s Dru,� the boy replied. �And I�m called Will.� Angel felt a cold shiver, but before he could move the girl-vampire was at his side, reaching up to take his hand. �You are here to be our daddy, aren�t you?� she said. And then little Will had hold of her other hand, and was gently pulling her away. �Don�t, Dru,� he said. �If he doesn�t want to, I�ll take care of you.� Angel fell to one knee, so he could look more closely at the children�s faces. �Didn�t some other vampire make you?� he said. �Isn�t there someone to take care of you?� Dru shook her head sadly, while Will explained, �it�s always just been us. The other vampires who live here help us sometimes, but we look after each other.� Against his better judgment, Angel felt his dead heart start to melt at the sight of the two wee vampires, as perfect as porcelain dolls. �Maybe you should show me how to be your daddy, then,� he said. The two tiny white faces lit up with sharp-toothed smiles, and Will went to retrieve the pitcher. �I always go to fetch the water in the evening,� he said. �The washroom is just down the hall.� He exited through the door and Angel followed him into a small parlor. A small round table was there, with black-lace table cloth, and surrounded by three wooden chairs. A glass-fronted cabinet held black and orange china and a lace-curtained window looked onto the street below. Angel glanced out to see a winding lane with gas-lamps, and other vampire families walking together. They passed through to another door, where a wrought-iron umbrella stand holding several umbrellas stood just inside. Will led Angel into the hallway, and it became clear that this was a sort of vampire rooming-house, with other apartments up and down the hall. They fetched a pitcher of hot water and returned to 2-B, where Angel poured it into the washbasin. He then watched with growing tenderness as the two little vampires washed and dressed themselves, Will in a black velvet suit with short pants, and Dru in a black satin dress with a blood-red sash. Angel lifted each, in turn, onto the ottoman where he carefully brushed their hair, and in Dru�s case, tied a matching red bow. As the two children put on their shoes, engrossed in doing up the tiny jet buttons, Angel put on a set of the adult clothes: long robe and red-lined cape, which it now seemed was cut to resemble bat wings along the bottom. Then he sat in his easy chair and did up his own boots. When Will had finished he went to the grandfather clock and opened the lower part of the case. Inside hung a furry, black bat, and Will lifted it out and patted its head. Dru was beside Angel in an instant, pulling on his sleeve. �Look, daddy,� she said, pointing at Will. �Will�s being bad. He�s brought one of the bats into the house.� �Why is that bad?� Angel asked, when he saw the boy attempt to hide the animal in his hands. �He brought it home from the ranch,� Dru said. �Ranch?� Angel was getting more confused. �Our bat ranch,� Will explained. �But it doesn�t hurt to keep one as a pet. We�ve hundreds.� �Is that what you do for a living? Raise bats?� Will�s voice took on the overly-patient tone children have when explaining something that should be obvious to an adult. �Everyone in Halloweentown has a job helping make Halloween. Dru and me have a bat ranch on the other side of the pumpkin patch. We raise these furry black ones to tangle up in people�s hair.� �That sounds like a lot of responsibility,� Angel said, and Will raised his chin proudly. �It is,� he said, and he held out the bat that still clung to his jacket-sleeve. �This is Cinder. She�s my pet.� �She�s very pretty,� Angel said, and Will came closer so he could stroke the fuzzy head. �Shall we go to the ranch now?� Angel asked. �No, we have to have breakfast first,� Will said. �The landlady, Mrs. Bathory, serves it downstairs.� �Our rent includes breakfast and dinner,� Dru said. Will lifted Cinder onto his shoulder, ignoring Dru�s disapproving �tsk,� and the bat nuzzled under his hair. Angel took each child�s hand in his own, and let them lead him downstairs. They sat at a long table in Mrs. Bathory�s dining room, and the landlady herself, a plump old vampire lady who patted the children fondly on the head and greeted Angel as though she�d known him for years, brought them mugs of warm blood and plates of biscuits and sausage. Other vampires who lived in the rooming-house came and went, greeting Angel and the children before going off to jobs of their own. Angel drank his breakfast, realizing that while it was satisfying his hunger, the craving for blood that never really left him in his other life was gone. The revelation was so surprising, and brought him such joy, that he ordered a second mug, and ate three buttered biscuits. Afterwards, he and the children walked through Halloweentown, along the narrow, winding streets and across the town square, past the strange fountain and the town hall, festooned with black and orange banners. They purchased their lunch (three bottles of blood and cream cheese sandwiches on black bread), and set off across the pumpkin patch, where jack-o-lanterns grew, already carved and lit with candles. Dru and Will took each other by the hand and sang strange off-key little songs as they walked. The bats were corralled in underground caves sealed with wire gates, and the children showed Angel how to open them to let the clouds of flying animals out to graze on the mosquitoes and flies over the nearby swamp. They also had several giant brown bats, a few as large as ponies, in an elevated wooden bat stable, and Will and Dru showed Angel how to ride the largest ones and use the others as herders to keep the bats from straying too far. They spent most of the night circling the swamp, tending to their bat herd, laughing and whistling. They took a break at midnight to eat their lunch, sitting on a flat rock in the moonlight, then drove the little creatures back into their caves for another day. They returned to their rooming-house just before dawn, and were given a supper of meat pies, warm blood, boiled cabbage, and chocolate cake. Afterwards, in their rooms, they changed into their pajamas and Will made tea on an alcohol burner, and they sat by the crackling fire listening to Angel read poetry and tales of adventure. Angel watched the children grow sleepy, their little heads nodding, and he knew he was lost. He lifted them into their little coffins and kissed their foreheads before shutting them in for the day, then he climbed into his own coffin. His last thought as he drifted into sleep was that, for once, he hoped the strangeness continued. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Angel woke the next evening to find himself still in the rooming-house in Halloweentown, and filled with giddy joy at such an unexpected gift he woke his vampire children for breakfast. They answered his joy with their own and climbed into his arms. They put their little hands around his neck, and with cries of �Daddy!� kissed his cheek. Angel fell into a quick routine with the children. Breakfast and supper at the rooming-house, lunch from a basket under the stars, tending to the bat herd in between. Sometimes, during the day when the bats were sleeping, they�d all go for a walk under black umbrellas. The jack-o-lantern sun that rose and set in this strange land couldn�t hurt them, really, but the umbrellas just looked right. In this way they met many of the other residents of Halloweentown: ghosts, witches, zombies and ghouls, and others more exotic like talking trees, spooky clowns, and scaly creatures that lived in the lake. The town had a Mayor, Angel learned, a clockwork being with two faces that rotated back and forth on his neck, but it had a King and Queen, too. The King, Jack Skellington, was a tall, impossibly thin living skeleton, and his wife, Sally, was a red-haired patchwork doll. They had several children, and Will and Dru sometimes played with them in the yard of the royal castle. The days passed quickly, and soon it was the week before Halloween, and time for the annual market, where Halloweentown�s farmers and ranchers brought in their stock. Angel and the children spent days gathering their livestock into big wicker baskets, then brushing them until their fur was glossy and clean. The evening of the market was clear, with a sky full of stars and a crescent moon. The bats� baskets were stacked in a corner of the town square between cartloads of corn shocks and large, hairy spiders arrayed in silver cages. The monsters in charge of supplying the Halloween operations ooh-ed and aah-ed over them, and placed orders for delivery. The Mayor and the Royal Family stopped by, and the Mayor commended Angel and his family for their fine work and strong, healthy bats. Then King Jack introduced himself to Angel. �We meet at last,� he said. �I know your two children from their visits with mine, but you�re new to Halloweentown. How do you like it here? How do you enjoy the ranching business?� Angel lifted Will and Dru, one in each arm, and smiled proudly. �I�m very happy here,� he said. Queen Sally frowned. �But how did you come here?� she said. �I can�t remember anyone coming to Halloweentown from outside, except from the other holidays, and then it�s only for a visit. Where did you come from?� �Well� I came from Los Angeles,� Angel said. �Lawss� Ahn�gel�eeez?� Jack repeated. �What holiday is that? I don�t believe I�ve ever heard of it.� �It�s not a holiday,� Angel laughed. �It�s a city.� Sally looked troubled, now. �It isn�t in the Real World?� she said. Angel nodded. �I suppose it is,� he said. �But no one *ever* comes here from the real world,� Sally said. �There must be something wrong.� �There, there, my dear,� Jack said, taking Sally�s hand. �He seems perfectly all right, and his children are quite happy. And he is a vampire, after all. Perhaps it�s just something new. After all, learning about Christmas all turned out, eventually.� �Yes, I suppose you�re right,� Sally agreed. �Congratulations on your fine bats, Angel,� Jack said, �and your family, as well.� And then they moved on to the spiders in the next stall. Angel hugged the children in his arms tight, and kissed them each on the head. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* The remainder of the bat herd crawled deeper underground and began their winter hibernation, freeing Angel and his children to enjoy the weeklong festival that preceded Halloween. Will and Dru got new outfits for the big night, in rich black velvet. Angel bought Dru a china doll dressed as a bride, which this world�s version enjoyed as much as the Drusilla Angel knew before. Will declared he didn�t want anything when Angel told him to pick out a toy at the toyshop, but later, at dinner, he shyly asked for a writing journal and a fountain pen, and it was off to the stationer�s before bed. The next few days were a whirlwind of preparation as decorations were hung from every object that stood still longer than ten seconds. Banners waved from every window ledge. Grinning Jack-o-lanterns glowed on every doorstep and in lines across each stone fence. Scarecrows cropped up on every corner, and brightly-colored leaves danced on the last warm breezes of the year. The children also taught Angel the songs all citizens of Halloweentown knew, songs that could be heard through the streets and halls every night, now. They sang them together as they played special Halloween games, and ate at bountiful holiday feasts put on by their new friends. The night before Halloween, after the last finishing touches were made on the holiday for the children of the Real World, Jack Skellington hosted a final party for all of Halloweentown in the Town Square. They drank punch and ate sweet pumpkin cakes prepared by Queen Sally herself, then danced to the strange off-key music of the town musicians. They stayed out well past daylight, then jumped between the shadows to get home. �Happy Halloween,� they called to all as they passed. At the rooming-house, Angel scooped the children, *his* children, into his arms and bounded up the steps two at a time. Will and Dru screamed with laughter and grabbed his hair and ears. He threw open the door to room 2-B and stopped short. A little boy, no more than eight or nine, sat at their parlor table, patiently sipping tea. He was pale and slightly plump, with black hair that stuck out in all directions and round glasses that seemed too large for his face. Despite the boy�s innocuous appearance, Angel felt his stomach twist with fear. He put his children down and pushed them back behind him. He felt their small hands take the hem of his cape, and when he glanced back he saw that Will had his hand pressed to his mouth. �Hello, Angel,� the new boy said. �Who are you?� Angel said. �And what do you want?� �I�m Wesley,� the boy said. �I�ve come to take you home.� Dru gave a small whimper, and Angel snarled, �I am home.� �No, Angel,� Wesley said calmly. �This is a construct, an artificial reality. I�ve come to take you back to the Real World.� �The Real World doesn�t matter to me anymore,� Angel said, then he lifted his children again. �Now, if you�ll excuse me, it�s bedtime for us.� The boy Wesley clambered down from his chair and followed after them. �Angel, you must listen to me. I can�t stay here for long.� �Then leave,� Angel said, striding through to the bedroom. �Angel, please. Your life could depend on it!� �Daddy,� Will said softly, halting Angel mid-step. �Talk to him if you have to.� Angel kept his back to the small human and set the children down. �Get ready for bed,� he whispered. �I�ll be there in just a minute.� The two little vampires regarded him with wide blue eyes, then nodded gravely. When they�d gone, Angel turned back to Wesley. �Talk fast, human,� Angel said. �This isn�t real,� Wesley said. �Surely that must be obvious to you.� Angel looked towards the bedroom. �So what is it? A spell? An illusion?� �Pocket universe,� Wesley said. �It has its own physical laws, its own natural environment, it can self-perpetuate indefinitely, but the entire thing is contained in what is essentially a glass jar.� �Who did it?� Angel said angrily. �More Wolfram and Hart mind games?� �No, it�s�� Wesley hesitated. �As near as we can figure, this� universe was created by a very powerful natural wizard, simply for his own amusement. Like God in miniature, he summoned it into being, and now it exists independently, its inhabitants completely unaware of their situation.� Angel felt his first headache since arriving in Halloweentown start to throb behind his eyes. �How did I get here, then?� �To be honest, we�re not really sure,� Wesley said. �What did this wizard say?� �He didn�t say much of anything,� Wesley said. �He�s seven years old and severely autistic. His room was filled with dozens of these jars, all containing different universes. His parents seemed to think they were craft projects of some kind.� Wesley cleared his throat a little. �As far as we could tell, this was the only one that had captured a being from our world. The research department at the firm has since provided a substantial grant for the boy to go to one of the top autism treatment facilities in the country. Just to keep an eye on his progress, of course.� �We�re fiends, Wesley,� Angel sighed. �But we�ve found a way to enter the jars for short periods of time,� Wesley said, ignoring Angel�s comment. �We�re subject to their internal laws, which is why I must appear this way, but we can go in and out. But you can�t stay here, Angel. Your essence is here, in this constructed body, but your real body is comatose back in L.A. It has been for three days. If you stay here, your body will eventually starve and die.� �Three days,� Angel repeated. �It�s been weeks here.� �Yes,� Wesley said. �As is usually the way with these things, time flows differently between universes.� Angel glanced towards the bedroom again. �What about them?� he asked. Wesley gave a sigh of his own. �They�ll go on,� he said. �If we protect the jar from being acted upon by outside forces, and we will, there�s no reason they wouldn�t continue to do as they�ve been doing. For centuries, I suppose.� �No,� Angel said. �I meant, can they come out?� �Theoretically, I see no reason why not, but Angel, you can�t�� �They�re my children, Wesley,� Angel said. �And they�re vampires, like me. We�re a family, without the barriers Con-- Buffy and I had.� �Only because the natural laws here make vampires friendly and harmless,� Wesley said. �In our world, they�d be vampires under our rules: bloodthirsty, killer demons. Would you want that for them?� Angel covered his face with his hands. �I can�t believe you�re doing this again,� he said, too quietly for Wesley to hear him. �I need to tell them,� he said aloud. �I need to say goodbye.� �Yes, of course,� Wesley demurred. �I�ll wait for you here.� Angel entered the bedroom and shut the door behind him. Dru and Will had dressed in their pajamas and sat together in Angel�s big upholstered chair, holding each other�s hands. �You need to go, don�t you?� Will said, and Angel was nearly undone. He went to his children and knelt beside the chair, and they wound their arms around his neck and hugged him tight. He put his arms around them in return, marveling at how small they seemed beneath his hands. �I don�t want to go,� he said, his voice thick with unshed tears. �I want to stay with you, but it isn�t possible.� And then his tears did start to fall, dropping into the children�s hair to glisten like dewdrops. He could feel their small bodies trembling with tears of their own. �Take care of your sister, Will,� Angel said. �Work hard and be good, both of you.� �Can�t you ever come back?� Dru cried. �If there�s a way that I can, I will,� Angel promised, and he kissed them both. �Now let me put you to bed one last time.� He stood and carried first Dru, then Will, to their little coffins and placed them in, kissing them again and telling them how much he loved them. �I love you, Daddy,� each told him as he gently closed the lids. He wiped the tears from his eyes before he exited into the parlor. He would rather drink holy water than let Wesley see him so broken again. And Angel knew there would not be the satisfaction of smothering the man this time. �I�m ready,� Angel told the ridiculous little human, and Wesley drew a large circle in the air with his finger. The circle turned black, and a fierce wind sucked them through. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Angel blinked his eyes, but instead of the darkness of the coffin lid he�d become used to, he saw only the dreary ceiling of his apartment. �Angel, are you with us?� came Wesley�s voice, and Angel turned to see him standing by the bed. Beyond him, Fred cradled a green glass bubble filled with what looked like swirling, iridescent glitter. �Is that it?� Angel said. �Yes,� Wesley said. �All of Halloweentown and its environs.� �It�s really quite fascinating,� Fred said. �This one was actually sort of simple compared to some of the other jars. Some had entire star systems with multiple planets and completely different physical laws�� �Yes, it�s all very interesting,� Wesley said, his eyes not leaving Angel, �but I think Angel is probably exhausted by his ordeal. So if you could just place the vessel in the vault, please�� �Yes, of course,� Fred said, and she placed the glass ball into Angel�s wall safe and left the two men alone. �She doesn�t know,� Angel said. �I assumed you�d wish to keep your private family life� private,� Wesley said. �Did I lie to them?� Angel said. �Can I ever go back?� �It�s risky, Angel,� Wesley said. �There are openings, but they�re transient. If the one we went in through closed while we were inside, we could be trapped. My chance of retrieving you this time was small. But, we can look in from outside from time to time. See how they�re doing. It isn�t much, I realize, but�� �It will have to be enough,� Angel finished. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Epilogue: Halloween Night in the �Real World� Angel entered his apartment, dragging with fatigue. Halloween was traditionally a quiet time for the supernatural beings of the world, but the humans more than made up for their lack of activity. He shed his coat, shoes, and shirt all in a line between his entryway and his bedroom, knowing his cleaning-girl, another perk of Wolfram and Hart, would tend to them. He entered the darkened bedroom, and the dim light from the hallway fell across his pillow. Resting on it was a small orange envelope. His hand shaking, Angel lifted it up. �To Daddy� read the spidery handwriting. Angel opened it and extracted the paper inside, smelling his foster children all over it. Impossible, he thought, but he read the letter at once. It said: �Dear Daddy, �We sent this letter with Jack on one of his visits to the Real World. He said he knew right where you lived, and would leave it where you were sure to see it. He also told us how hard it would be for you to come and see us, because the doorways open and close on their own. �We�ve both been well, and working hard, but we miss you terribly. The bats are doing very well this season, and we�ve had more bat pups than normal. We expect we�ll make even more than last year, maybe enough to build a cottage of our own, down near the pumpkin patch, closer to the ranch. Dru wants to grow wolfs�-bane and deadly nightshade, and I would like to try broomstick riding. We�ll write and tell you how it goes. �We hope you are doing well where you are. Maybe some day we can be together again. We are all vampires, after all, and will live a very long time. I believe we�ll find a way eventually. �We love you and miss you, and know you love and miss us, too. �Love, �Will and Dru �xoxo� Angel tucked the letter back into the envelope and slid down into bed, still partially clothed. He inhaled the scent of his children, and fell instantly into sleep. Main Menu ~ Return to Crossover Menu |